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?Dunagan's Commentary on Ephesians?(Mark Dunagan) Commentator
Mark Dunagan is the pastor of The Fifth Street Church of Christ in
Beaverton, Oregon.
This is a compilation of over 2700 pages of commentary notes written and
compiled over the past 15 years by Mark Dunagan. These commentaries were
written in preparation to teach each of the books in an adult Bible class.
This module contains Mr. Dunagan's commentaries on the following NT books:
. Ecclesiastes
. Job
. Acts
. Romans
. 1 Corinthians
. Ephesians
. Philippians
. Colossians
. 1 Thessalonians
. 2 Thessalonians
. 1 Timothy
. James
. 1 Peter
. 2 Peter
The text of these commentaries can be found here. 00 Introduction Ephesians
Introduction
The city of Ephesus:
"Ephesus was the gateway to Asia. Situated at the mouth of the Cayster
River, it was the entrance for shipping from the West, and the point of
departure for the caravans between the Ionian coast and the East. The
highway led from Ephesus across central Asia Minor through the Cilician
Gates to Antioch, and thence across Syria to the Euphrates valley, Persia,
and India. The harbor at Ephesus was capacious, though it was already
beginning to fill with silt which the Cayster brought down from the
mountains. In Paul"s day it was still accessible to ships of moderate size,
although the large Alexandrian merchantmen had begun to avoid it. Ephesus
had been founded by colonists from Athens in the eleventh century B.C., who
displaced the original inhabitants and who began a Greek civilization. The
strategic location of the city favored its growth and it became a military
prize both for the naval states of Greece and for the successive kingdoms
that dominated Asia Minor, including those of the Lydians and the Persians.
Alexander the Great received the homage of the Ephesian rulers in 334 B.C.
In 188 B.C. the Romans wrestled it from Antiochus the Great" [Note: _ New
Testament Times. Merrill C. Tenney p. 277]
"At the time of Paul it ranked with Alexandria and Antioch as one of the
three great emporiums of the eastern Mediterranean trade. It was the
commercial as well as the political capital of Asia. Its importance,
however, was due in larger measure still to the religious interest which
centered in the city" [Note: _ The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians.
Charles R. Erdman p. 12] In the First Century this city contained an
estimated population of one-third of a million people. "Ephesus was
recognized as the first city of the province. Under the Romans, Ephesus
enjoyed the status of a free city. It had an assembly and council of its
own and a governor (Acts 19:38). The town clerk, keeper of the city
records, was an official of great influence and responsibility (Acts
19:35)" [Note: _ The Book of Ephesians. "Spiritual Sword Lectureship",
1984. p. 4]
The Temple of Diana: Acts 19:24-28
"It is reputed to have been four hundred and twenty-five feet in length and
two hundred and thirty-nine in width and to have been supported by one
hundred columns, fifty-five feet in height. Its complete construction
covered a period of two hundred and twenty years" (Erdman p. 13). "Around
the great shrine, to which worshipers and tourists poured from far and
near, tradesmen and hucksters found a living, supplying visitors with food
and lodging, dedicatory offerings, and the silver souvenir models of the
shrine that the guild of Demetrius was most interested in making and
selling" [Note: _ The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Volume
D-G., pg. 328] "When the son of Codrus, last king of Athens, founded the
city, he placed his colonists near the shrine of an ancient Anatolian
goddess whom the Greeks called after their own goddess Artemis. The cult
thus recognized was that of a nature-goddess, associated with carnal
fertility rituals and religious prostitution. The Artemis of Ephesus was a
strangely ornamented female figure, shrine and basket on head, a veil
decorated with beasts, long necklaces, embroidered sleeves, legs sheathed
with empaneled animals, and with multiple breasts, or, as some suggest, an
apron covered with clusters of grapes or dates, sign and symbol of Artemis"
role as the nourishing spirit of nature" (Zond. Ency. p. 326).
Some critics have argued that the apostles and their writings were unduly
influenced by the prejudices of the culture in which they lived. But such a
theory is obviously false when one realizes that Paul often preached
against the most popular cultural thing in town (Acts 19:26). Ephesus is
not the first city in which Paul challenged and went after those elements
in an established culture that were in opposition to the truth (Acts 14:15;
Acts 17:21-31). "Paul was, in fact, assaulting a stronghold of pagan
religion, together with the active life and commerce associated with the
vast heathen cult, in a key city of the central Mediterranean and a focal
point of communication. The preaching of Christianity was hitting the
Artemis cult hard, so hard that the turnover in dependent trades was
visibly showing the adverse affects" (Zond. Ency. p. 328). For Paul to
attack and preach against idolatry in Ephesus, would be comparable to
preaching against gambling in Las Vegas, homosexuality in San Francisco, or
Islam in Iran.
Since Ephesus was a center of communication and commerce in Asia Minor, it
is only logical that the gospel spread to the surrounding region from this
city (Acts 19:10). From Ephesus the gospel will spread inland to Pergamum,
Sardis, Thyatira, Laodicea, Philadelphia, Smyrna, Colosse and Hierapolis
(Colossians 1:7).
The Theater: (Acts 19:29)
"From the temple a street led westward to the city gate, near which was a
stadium built into the side of the adjacent mountain. South of the stadium
was the theater, set in the side of the mountain, accommodating about
twenty-five thousand people directly from the theater a wide street lined
with shops and colonnades led down to the docks in the harbor" (Tenney p.
280).
The people who lived here:
"Although it is unfair to characterize all citizens with the vices
sometimes associated with their city, historical literature identifies the
people of Ephesus as amiable, refined, and luxurious. They are also
pictured as lovers of music, the arts, dancing, seduction, and vicious
indulgence" [Note: _ Truth Commentaries. Ephesians. C.G. "Colly" Caldwell.
p. x] Hence we might say, Ephesus contained people with the same needs,
desires and weaknesses as found in any modern metropolitan area.
A center of superstition: (Acts 19:17-19)
We should note the correlation between false religion and superstition.
Superstition will always abound in a climate in which the truth concerning
God is not preached. "In addition to the worship of the traditional deity,
Ephesus was renowned for its patronage of occult arts. 'Ephesian letters'
or formulations of magical charms, were famous" (Tenney p. 280).
The origin of the congregation here:
Paul had briefly touched base here on his second journey (Acts 18:19-21).
Then around 54 A.D., on his third journey Paul came to Ephesus and stayed
for 3 years. (Acts 19:1; Acts 19:10; Acts 20:31). From the book of Acts and
this letter we know the church had elders (Acts 20:17). It was composed of
many Christians from a Gentile background (Ephesians 2:1; Ephesians 2:11;
Ephesians 3:1). This congregation would face the lure of false teachers
(Acts 20:28-31), and yet the Ephesian letter does not really meet any
specific false teaching head on, as does Galatians or Colossians, and the
members here dearly loved Paul (Acts 20:36-38).
Authorship:
The apostle Paul is clearly stated as the author (; 3:1). Some critics of
the Bible, have stated that Paul could not be the author of this letter,
because Ephesians is written in a different style than Paul"s other
epistles or because it contains 70 words which are not used by Paul in his
other letters. I like what Barclay said in responding to this view: "It
would be ridiculous to demand that a man with a mind like Paul should never
add to his vocabulary and should always express himself in the same way.
There is first the general fact that no great writer always writes in the
very same style. Shakespeare can produce the very different styles of
Hamlet, A Midsummer Night"s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew and the Sonnets.
Any great stylist--writes in a style to fit his aim" [Note: _ The Letters
to the Galatians and Ephesians. p. 64] In addition, we always need to
remember that God is the final author, and God does not have a limited
vocabulary (1 Corinthians 2:9-13; Ephesians 3:3-5). Plus, even a very
average or poor writer changes both vocabulary and style. A father"s letter
to the school board, is not going to be written in the same style and
certainly will not contain the same vocabulary as a love letter written by
the same man to his wife. The above "criticism", serves as a classical
example that a tremendous amount of liberal theology or higher criticism is
nothing more than plain old unbelief, and, not only that, but in many
cases, it is not even "smart" by the world's standards (Romans 1:22).
Time and place of composition:
Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter (; 4:1; 3:1). In comparing
Ephesians 6:21 and Colossians 4:7, it appears that both letters were
written during the same imprisonment and even dispatched at the same time
by the same messenger. Most place the composition of this letter in Rome
(62-64 A.D.) and during